U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh C. Johnson reviews the results of the 2015 employee survey – the Federal Employee Viewpoint survey – for the 240,000 person department. (Yes, that’s right – DHS has 22 component agencies, including the Coast Guard.) The results don’t seem too bad, considering the department’s scope. Secretary Johnson notes […]
The U.S. and China, via their presidents talking with each other, have agreed not to “conduct economic espionage in cyberspace,” In Homeland Security reports via The Washington Post. That was a welcome outcome of the meeting between President Obama and China’s President Xi Jinping last week in Washington. On a lesser plane than espionage, though, […]
An interesting notion: Can Pope Francis’ message about “immigration, climate change, financial inequality” be interpreted in terms of their bearing on security, national security, that is? Arnold Bogis on Homeland Security Watch asks that question in all seriousness. “I originally thought to ask to keep remarks focused on the security aspect of (the pope’s) trip,” […]
Paul Beckman, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Chief Information Security Officer, has a method for keeping his staff alert to online fraudsters. Beckman, says ThreatPost, “periodically sends his own staff bogus-looking phishing emails to see who falls for them, and that a handful of higher ups, senior managers, and other VIPS, often do – […]
Bruce Schneier provides a link to an article by Dorothy Denning on “The Rise of Hacktivism,” or computer hacking. Dr. Denning is Distinguished Professor of Defense Analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School. “This blending of hacking with activism, known as ‘hacktivism,’ has become increasingly prevalent and is now commonplace,” she writes. “Hacktivism is challenging international […]
The Clearswift blog notes that computer security is becoming almost as much of a concern for human resource people as those in IT (information technology). That’s because research is showing that “71% of breaches globally come from people in the extended enterprise, which is comprised of 39% employees, 12% ex-employees and 22% contractors. Additionally, 73% […]
Pope Francis’ trip to the U.S. later this month is presenting officials in New York and elsewhere with a special security challenge. Indeed, notes an Associated Press story, the pope’s visit to New York, from Sept. 24 to Sept. 26, is considered a National Special Security Event, making the Secret Service the lead agency for […]
Pay heed. Michael McCaul, chairman of the U.S. House Homeland Secur Committee, says “The Islamist terror threat in the U.S. homeland has escalated dramatically this year and remains high…There have been more U.S.-based jihadist terror cases in 2015 than in any full year since 9/11.” The nature of terrorist threats is something you maybe don’t […]
We’re a day late to be commenting on this, “September 10 Thinking,” as Philip J. Palin puts it on Homeland Security Watch. But isn’t that the point about what was learned from September 11? We were a day, or a mindset, behind in preparedness, and paid a terrible price for such unintended malingering. Now, Palin […]
Wisely, the U.S, Department of Homeland Security is promoting the sale of a Lost Person Behavior app ($9.99 at the iTunes Store) that would seem a godsend to searchers for missing persons. It’s been built around data from “over 150,000 missing person cases across the country,” and “provides guidance, tactical briefings, investigative questions, and statistics […]